Gothic take Melmoth the Wanderer comes to The Old Courthouse

SURREAL Comedy. Horror - Big Telly has been doing all three and more for 25 years now from the unlikely base of Portstewart and its latest production, Melmoth the Wanderer, is a combination of all of these genres, taking in Saw, Fawlty Towers and Tim Burton along the way, to create a truly unique yet strangely typical Big Telly spectacle.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Mar 2012, 10:00 BST

Melmoth the Wanderer is a gothically charged tall tale of terror, temptation and a mysterious traveller.

Its enthralling darkness feeds our current obsession with the glamorous dark side, seducing us with their humour each character would sit comfortably in a deathless romance movie such as Twilight or the macabre TV series True Blood.

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Five chancers encounter a stranger desperate to find someone to take over his pact and release him from immortality. But who in their right mind would agree to take on his curse?

A madcap melange of squeaky toys, animation, projections and more than a light sprinkling of calculated mchaos ensures that audiences will be gripped from the thrilling beginning to the unexpected ending in an unforgettable Big Telly extravaganza.

Characters lurking in the shadows of this technicoloured romp with a darkly humorous centre include the aforementioned stranger in the depths of despair, an innocent child raised on a desert island with no knowledge of the world and the ghastly clowns compelled to play out this extraordinary tale of temptation, desire and cannibalism having possibly bitten off more than they can chew...

Mixing local talent with international pizzazz, World-renowned mask director and theatre practitioner, John Wright joins the creative team to brilliantly enhance this stunning visual treat, adding to it a sinister edge with his unnerving masks.

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Now half way through a successful tour of Ireland and Scotland, Melmoth the Wanderer has been unanimously applauded by audiences and reviewers alike, as an additional testament to the strangely accessible eccentric talents of Big Telly.

Zoe Seaton Artistic Director, said: “‘We are thrilled to be presenting Melmoth the Wanderer, terrifying our audience and lulling them back into a false sense of security by engaging them in laughter and a few poignant moments of thought too.

“Big Telly are about quality performances that step outside the safety zone.”

Melmoth the Wanderer comes to The Old Courthouse, Antrim, this Friday, March 9 at 7.30pm. Tickets can be booked from the box office on 028 9446 3113.

The Big Telly production will then move to the Lyric Theatre, Belfast from Wednesday, March 21 to Sunday, March 25. Contact the Lyric Theatre box office on 028 9038 for tickets.

Related topics:TicketsLyric Theatre